Packaging and Irradiation Effects on Lipid Oxidation and Volatiles in Cooked Pork Patties

and Implication Packaging, irradiation, and the length of storage of raw meat were important factors in lipid oxidation of cooked meat. Preventing oxygen exposure after cooking, however, was more important in preventing lipid oxidation of cooked meat than the raw meat treatments. Cooking itself did not increase thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) values. The structural damages caused by the cooking process made it easy for oxygen to contact with membrane lipids and accelerated lipid oxidation. Propanal, pentanal, hexanal, 1-pentanol, and total volatiles were highly correlated (P<0.01) with TBARS values of cooked meat. Among the volatile components, hexanal and total volatiles content provided the best criteria for determining lipid oxidation status and off-odor production in cooked meat. However, the relationships between TBARS values and aldehydes of cooked meat from various muscles were different from each other, and the explanation for different aldehydes/TBARS values in cooked meat from different muscle types requires further study.